Welcome back to The Rundown, our daily breakdown on comic news stories we missed from the weekend. Have a link to share? Email our team at rundown@multiversitycomics.com.
– Charlize Theron and James McAvoy have signed on to star in the film adaptation of “The Coldest City”. Based off the graphic novel by Antony Johnston and Sam Hart, the story takes place on the eve of the collapse of the Berlin Wall and involves spies. Theron and McAvoy join John Goodman, Toby Jones, and Sofia Boutella. The adaptation is directed by David Leitch (“John Wick”) and is set to premiere in August 2017.
– “Assassination Classroom” fans: Yusei Matsui will be attending New York Comic Con October 2016. He’ll be hanging around for “events and autograph sessions.”
– Diamond Distributors, the monopoly who controls the flow and access of your comics, has released their sales numbers for May 2016. “DC Universe: Rebirth” was the biggest seller for the month, though Marvel owned about 66% of the list for monthly single comics.
Remember though: these numbers aren’t real. Diamond measures the numbers of a comic that are sold directly to stores. They honestly don’t give two shits about how well the comic sells off the shelf (which, you know, is how book sales are generally measured). So “Civil War II” #0 might be the second biggest seller for May, but there are still thousands of copies undoubtedly sitting in your local comic shop right now. And Diamond offers all sorts of incentives for Marvel and DC books, in particular. So you might pull an alternative or indie title, but your store might only pick up the title you ordered, and continue stocking their shelves with copies of “Deadpool” or whatever Brian Michael Bendis turned in that week until they can shove them into the back issue bin.
Most telling about that list is how the trade collections and graphic novels stack up against charts that measure, you know, actual numbers. Take a look at this week’s New York Times Paperback Graphic Books list. “Kanan” Vol. 2 and “Civil War” appear on both, though at vastly different places. Raina Telgemeier who basically owns the NY Times list doesn’t even appear on the Diamond charts, which should question not only the legitimacy of the list, but also the legitimacy of people citing the list as proof of how comics are going. It’s silly publishers rely so heavily on these Diamond numbers when it’s obvious they don’t make any sense whatsoever.
– Check it: Daniel Clowes appeared on the “WTF with Marc Maron” podcast this weekend. Give it a listen and then go find Clowes’s new book, “Patience”.
– On Friday we asked, What is your favorite licensed Dark Horse Property? Well, the results are in! At the time of this writing:
35% declared their love of the “Avatar: The Last Airbender” series. Which is truly fantastic.
28% of people favored the old “Star Wars” properties while 14% preferred “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”. “Conan” also had a showing with 12% of the vote and “Aliens” with 7%.
No one seemed to like the Indiana Jones or Predator comics, though.
Make sure you check back Friday for our next Weekly Readers’ Poll!
